Details

Subjects:

Humanism -- Italy.
Humanism.
Italy.

Form/Genre:

Annotations.
Hybrid books.
Manuscripts, Latin -- 16th century.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Latin, with a few words in Greek in notes and passages in Greek in printed text.

Summary:

Collection of two published works with manuscript additions related to one of the works and manuscript annotations. The letters of Poliziano that comprise just over half the volume were published by Theodericus Martini (Thierry Martens) in Antwerp in 1514 and include letters to numerous Italian humanists, church officials, and secular leaders. Recipients include Lorenzo de' Medici (referred to in the letter as Poliziano's patron), Piero de' Medici, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Ludovico Sforza (Duke of Milan), Iacopo Antiquari (secretary to Ludovico Sforza), Aldo Manuzio, Jacopo Ammannati Piccolomini (Cardinal of Pavia), Francesco Piccolomini (Cardinal of Siena, later Pope Pius III), and Pope Innocent VIII. Following the printed text are manuscript copies, a few years earlier than the printed letters, of 17 letters to Poliziano or between friends of Poliziano, most of whom are represented in the printed collection, such as John II of Portugal, Lorenzo de' Medici, Ludovico Sforza, Iacopo Antiquari, Innocent VIII, Francisco Piccolomini, Battista Guarini, and Marco Lucido Fazini. The manuscript section also includes 2 orations by Poliziano. The second published work, issued by Johann Schott in Strasbourg in 1510, presents letters of the 4th-century Roman statesman Symmachus and the supposed correspondence of Mehmed II, Sultan of the Turks, written by the humanist Laudinus, also known as Laudivio de Vezzano, a popular work first published in 1473. Early annotations in 1 or 2 hands in red ink appear throughout volume except in the letters of Symmachus, dated 1511 at the end of the manuscript letters and 1512 at the end of the second published work. Many of the annotations are literary in nature, highlighting references to classical authors or proverbs and adages in the text. Later annotations added in pencil and red pencil.

Contents:

1. f.1r-108v: Disertissimi viri Angeli Politiani, linguae latinae vindicatoris, epistolae lepidissimae.
2. f.109r-125v: [Manuscript copies of letters to Angelo Poliziano and between friends of Poliziano].
3. f.153r-198r: Symmachi cons[ulis] Ro[mani] epistolae familiares.
4. f.199r-208v: Laudini, equitis hierosolymitani, in epistolas Turci magni traductio.

Notes:

Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, ii + 208 + iii; [1-208]; contemporary foliation in pencil, lower right recto.
Layout: Manuscript letters written in 27-33 long lines and frame-ruled in red ink.
Script: Manuscript letters written in Gothic cursive script.
Decoration: Underlining in red ink; initials touched with red ink; rubrication in red ink in manuscript letters; annotation in red ink except in Symmachus, including numerous manicules in manuscript letters; 2 later, more elaborate manicules (f. 44v, 77r).
Binding: Contemporary stamped pigskin over wooden boards with a clasp; Politianus Sym[m]achus written on spine in ink in early hand.
Origin: Manuscript letters copied ca. 1511 (f. 125v); annotations on last work dated 1512 (f. 208v); and first work annotated in or after 1514 (publication date).

Penn Provenance:

Early ownership inscription (jure me possidet Leonhardus Cuntius , f. 1r).
Formerly owned by Otto Jahn (bookplate inside upper cover).
Formerly owned by Friederich de Schennis (armorial ex libris stamp inside upper cover, on second flyleaf, f. 125v, f. 153r).
Purchased, 1952; transferred from Culture Class collection, 2011.

Publications about:

Herman, Nicholas. Making the Renaissance Manuscript: Discoveries from Philadelphia Libraries (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2020. 116-17 (cat. 26).

Cited as:

Hybrid Book of Letters of Poliziano, Symmachus, and Laudinus (Ms. Codex 1591). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Contributor:

Cuntius, Leonhardus, former owner.
Jahn, Otto, 1813-1869, former owner.
Schennis, Friederich de, 1852-1918, former owner.

Contains:

Symmachus, Quintus Aurelius, approximately 340-402. Correspondence.
Zacchia, Laudivio, approximately 1435-
Mehmed II, Sultan of the Turks, 1432-1481, attributed name.
Martens, Thierry, 1450?-1534, printer.
Schott, Johann, 1477-1548, printer.
Epistolae lepidissimae.
Epistolae familiares.
Epistolae Turci magni.

OCLC:

723234045